Melissa Godoy Nieto transforms this interior space with a series of city skylines installations made from hand-dyed yarn. This first installation represents the New York City skyline. Melissa Godoy Nieto is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. She has a BA in Industrial Design from Pratt Institued and is co-founder of The Poetry Club Art Space.

The three finalists of the St. Petersburg Pier competition presented their proposals to a panel of jurors and nearly 200 people, as the presentation was open to the public. BIG started the day off with the Wave and was followed by Michael Maltzan Architecture’s presentation of the Lens. The day concluded with West 8’s proposal, the People’s Pier. Concerns of cost and shade dominated the conversation, as well as materiality, permitting, storm ratings and boating. According to the Tampa Bay online report, the Lens and the Wave generated the most positive attention, stating the People’s Pier received “a more restrained response.” The panel will announce their decision on January 20th.

The futuristic Lloyd’s of London building has become one of the few postmodern buildings to be granted Grade I listed status, elevating the building to the top 2.5% of all listed buildings. Following Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano’s success with the great Pompidou Center in Paris (1977), Rogers designed the Lloyd’s building to replace the insurance company’s original headquarters in London’s medieval financial district. The building was completed in 1986 after eight years of construction, requiring 33,510 cubic meters of concrete, 30,000 square meters of stainless steel cladding and 12,000 square meters of glass to construct.

Continue reading for more information and images.

We found this great image from The All Nighter – a tumblr dedicated to students who want to share and prospective students who would like to know about the architecture studio experience. The ArchDaily team would like to wish you a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!

Inhabitat

Trust for the National Mall has announced the Stage II results, naming the ten design teams selected to continue in the third and final stage of the National Mall Design Competition. The National Mall will undergo an approximate $700 million restoration in three selected areas – Union Square including the Reflecting Pool and the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, Sylvan Theater on the Washington Monument Grounds, and the Constitution Gardens between the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

“We are excited about the teams selected to advance to Stage III and have no doubt each of them will create beautiful, useful and sustainable designs for the National Mall,” said Caroline Cunningham, President of the Trust for the National Mall. “We are eager to share their final designs with the public in April.”

Continue reading for more information and the complete list of finalists.

Studio Banana TV had the opportunity to sit down with Tokyo-based architect Sou Fujimoto. He discussed the current inner-workings of his office and highlights his involvement with teaching in other countries, describing it as a “precious experience”. The importance of learning from other cultures and different students has positively impacted his ever-expanding involvement with a variety of international projects. He describes architecture as a “patient process” and believes architectural education should teach students how exciting the profession is.

As disabled U.S. military veterans return home, they often face the challenge of adapting to a new home and finding ways to cope with their surroundings. In order to better serve the returning soldiers, Clark Reality Capital commissioned Michael Graves & Associates (MGA) to design the “Wounded Warrior Home Project.” In conjunction with IDEO, Graves has designed a complete residential environment for physically impaired veterans. The single-family prototype homes provide everything from adjustable height kitchen counter-tops to easy-access rooms and closets, creating a comfortable environment for the physical and emotional needs of the soldiers.

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The devastating earthquake and tsunami that ravaged northeastern Japan in early March caused unimaginable damage and heartbreak to many. In response, Google has created a website named “Mirai e no kioku”, meaning “Memories for the Future”. The website allows the people of Japan to share photos and videos of their cities in an effort to preserve the memories collected over generations that may have been lost during the disaster. Google has also provided thousands of miles of Street View imagery that includes “Before” and “After” comparisons of the hardest hit areas.

Along with engineers G.O.C. and Cabanelas Castelo Architects, Foster + Partners have won an international competition to design a new high-speed rail station in the city of Ourense in Galicia, located in northwestern Spain. The winning proposal integrates transport infrastructure with a new urban park, providing a large public space that will open up a series of pedestrian links to connect the districts divided by the track.

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For those of you still in search for some last minute gift ideas, we present to you part three of the 2011 ArchDaily Holiday Gift Guide. We hope this provides you with that last bit of inspiration to finish your holiday shopping. In case you missed our previous guides, view Part One and Part Two for more gift ideas that is guaranteed to please any architect.

Sitting near the southern boundary of Foresterhill at the edge of the Westburn field, Snohetta’s plans for Maggie’s Cancer Care Center at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary is envisioned as a pavilion within the parkland. The facilities will be mainly on the ground floor with a mezzanine area for office functions.

The Elizabeth Montgomerie Foundation (EMF) and Maggie’s are raising £3m in an attempt to bring a Maggie’s Center to Foresterhill Hospital in Aberdeen to provide for the families of Grampian. Aberdeen is Scotland’s third largest caner treatment center but is the only clinical center in Scotland not supported by Maggie’s.

MAXXI, MoMA and their new Chilean partner CONSTRUCT have kicked off the 2012 edition of YAP MAXXI, following this past summer’s successful first edition named WHATAMI by stARTT. Together the U.S. and Italian jury chose five finalists, from the 43 invited designers, who may still have the opportunity to reinvent the square of MAXXI in Rome. The winners of both YAP MAXXI in Rome and MoMA PS1 in New York will be announced in February and the installations will launch simultaneously in June 2012.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is set to announce Cornell University and its partner, the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, winner of the intense, yearlong competition to build a New York City Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island. The announcement follows Stanford University’s unexpected withdraw from the competition after tense negotiations with the Bloomberg administration. Meanwhile, last Friday Cornell received a $350 million donation in support of their proposal, being the largest gift the University has ever received.

The Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) was commissioned by the Government Services Administration (GSA) to conduct a post-occupancy evaluation of 22 “green” federal buildings from across the United States. The report stats reveal that not only does these “green” buildings emit 34 percent less carbon dioxide and are using 11 percent less water, they cost on average 19 percent less to maintain. In addition to the environmental and economical savings, the evaluation reports that the occupants are more satisfied in the “green” buildings by 27 percent.

Continue reading for more information.

Dedicated to the life and work of Amancio d’Alpoim Guedes (Pancho Guedes), A Porcura De Pancho illustrates the journey of a solitary student exploring the city of Maputo in search of Pancho. The architect, sculptor and painter spent most of his life in Mozambique, where he designed more than 500 buildings.

In celebration of the 75th anniversary of Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home, studio and architectural campus in Scottsdale, Arizona, Phoenix Art Museum presents Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture for the 21st Century. The exhibit will explore Wright and his relevance today through a survey of more than 40 projects shown through rarely seen drawings, models, furniture, films and photographs.

The Arizona exhibit will be open to the public from December 18th, 2011 to April 29th, 2012 at the Steele Gallery in the Phoenix Art Museum.

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After serving in the U.S. Air Force, Marshall founded The Marshall Group in 1982 and has a long history of providing services to the AIA. In the 1980’s, Marshall became the first African-American to attain board membership with the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS). Marshall is also an active member of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA).